Sarah Silverman's 'Indecent Proposal' and what that means for modern politics

By Rob Eshman
Published on July 17, 2012

By the time you read this, you probably will have watched Sarah Silverman in her underwear, demonstrating a lesbian sex act with her dog. Because that’s the way politics works these days.

Three Jews walk into a Starbucks

By Gina Nahai
Published on May 9, 2012

I was sitting in the Starbucks in the lobby of the Grand Hyatt in Washington, D.C., listening to two men talk about a three-day hike through Israel’s Arava desert, when Bayaaz Khanoom appeared.

Letters to the Editor: Dennis Prager, Jewish Service Corps, Conservative Congregants

Published on May 9, 2012

Dennis Prager was given the opportunity to respond to a letter sent by a reader (Letters, April 27). I’d like to respond to his response. He asserts, “It was racists in the Democratic Party, not conservatives or Republicans, who blocked civil rights for blacks.” I’ve been a long-time listener and reader of Mr. Prager’s, and while I disagree with him on almost every issue, I have always respected his integrity. However, I must say that in this case, he is veering dangerously close to a purposeful distortion of the truth.

Making a book out of making himself a man

Published on April 4, 2012

Joel Stein throws himself into things. I know this personally, because he threw himself into making me eggplant parmesan the week my son was born. He and his lovely wife delivered it personally, with bread and wine, braving the dangers and dog barks of Koreatown to feed two hungry, tired new parents.

I can’t be the badly dressed mom at pickup time

Published on April 4, 2012

Today, I stopped home to change my outfit before picking up my kid from day care.

Jill C.

Published on January 26, 2012

If I had to pick out the adventurous girl in a crowd, Jill would be one of the last I’d point to. Whether that has to do with my horrible perception or her initial caginess, I don’t know. But she surprised me at almost every turn as she crawled out of her proverbial cage. She loves watching sports. Her favorites are basketball, football … and boxing. Seriously?

Who owns a horror?

By Susan Freudenheim
Published on November 22, 2011

At the Los Angeles County Museum of Art right now, in the ground-level hall of the Art of the Americas building, right off the main courtyard, a life-sized, lifelike sculptural installation shows a black man being castrated by a group of five white men wearing cartoonish masks.

Opinion: Grateful for what?

By David Suissa
Published on November 22, 2011

One of the great human virtues is gratitude. In Jewish tradition, we are encouraged to make at least 100 blessings of gratitude a day. The very first words we say every morning are “I give thanks before you, eternal King, for having restored to me my soul.”

JewCLA?

Published on October 21, 2011

I have a Jewish daughter in 12th grade, which means one thing: college applications. The fact that she is applying is a given; my husband and I have followed the long-standing Jewish tradition of brainwashing our children into believing that college is nothing more than grades 13 though 16.

Popcorn, a prayer and a trip to Israel

Published on October 20, 2011

I had suffered from extreme dog deprivation for years and had resisted getting a canine friend as a single person with crazy hours. Shortly after I got engaged in the spring of '97 I received a call from one of my dearest friends.

Opinion: The big picture

By Rob Eshman
Published on September 21, 2011

Patrick Goldstein writes “The Big Picture,” a column for the Los Angeles Times.

Opinion: Breaking through

By David Suissa
Published on September 21, 2011

I often wonder what would happen if political leaders were replaced by creative directors of advertising agencies. You see, in the ad business there’s a law against boredom.

Jews by choice

Published on September 16, 2011

There are a lot of fun things about being Jewish: Adam Sandler, Purim, having an opinionated Jewish grandmother, Israel (most of the time), Chanukah.

Opinion: Prep for costly fight as Berman, Sherman keep gloves on

By Bill Boyarsky
Published on August 24, 2011

The Howard Berman-Brad Sherman story is loaded with angles — Jewish, Latino and, what may be most important, financial.

Opinion: Still the only solution to the world’s problems

By Dennis Prager
Published on August 17, 2011

There is only one solution to the world’s problems, only one prescription for producing a near-heaven on earth.

David Suissa: The Monzur revolution

By David Suissa
Published on July 26, 2011

It’s a little too soon for Time magazine to name its Person of the Year, but I want to put in an early vote for Rumana Monzur, who on June 5 was brutalized by her husband in their Bangladesh home and has decided to speak out on behalf of all abused women.

The Rough Guide

By Rob Eshman
Published on July 19, 2011

In Barcelona’s Old City, there’s a narrow street off the well-trod tourist path that leads to what was once the Jewish quarter. In 1391, 100 years before the official start of the Inquisition, Barcelona massacred many and expelled the rest of its Jews, who historians say made up as much as 20 percent of the population. The City Hall in Plaça Sant Jaume was built on land taken from some of these families.

Dennis Prager: Adults who do not speak to a parent

By Dennis Prager
Published on July 19, 2011

For two decades I have been on a crusade: to convince adults who have cut off all communication with a parent to re-establish contact.

I’m a believer

By Rob Eshman
Published on June 8, 2011

I was a Jewish school skeptic. When it was time to send our first child, our son, to school, my wife, a rabbi, insisted it be a Jewish school. I wondered, like a lot of parents, whether the quality of the education would be so superior to the local public school, or a similarly priced private school. I worried that he wouldn’t get the diverse social exposure pubic school provided. I doubted a school that divides its day between Jewish and general studies could excel at either.

An answer to cancer

Published on April 25, 2011

My mother, who for years dreamt of holding her own baby in her arms, beamed as she held me, her firstborn. My beloved late grandmother, whose diplomatic skills were on par with Muammar Gadhafi’s, took one look at me and proclaimed, “Now you have a daughter, so now you can worry.”

The naked Nielsens

By Marty Kaplan
Published on April 20, 2011

The metrics are wearing no clothes. How would you react if you found out that the basis of your business model was bogus? That’s the nightmare that the television industry is finally waking up to, and I bet that online media won’t be far behind.

The Arab Seder

By Rob Eshman
Published on April 12, 2011

This has been a good year for freedom.

Larry David: Thanks for the tax cut!

Published on December 21, 2010

THERE is a God! It passed! The Bush tax cuts have been extended two years for the upper bracketeers, of which I am a proud member, thank you very much. I’m the last person in the world I’d want to be beside, but I am beside myself! This is a life changer, I tell you. A life changer!

Dis-assimilated

By Rob Eshman
Published on December 15, 2010

It was a very Jewish week, even more than usual.

A Yeshiva boy and Christmas

By Dennis Prager
Published on December 15, 2010

When I was 20, I spent my junior year in college in England. When classes let out for the last two weeks of December, I traveled to Morocco, where something life-changing occurred.

I take Israel personally

By Marty Kaplan
Published on November 22, 2010

I also take Obama personally, and Jon Stewart, Paul Krugman and NPR. I take Trojan football personally. If I were more into baseball, I imagine I’d take the Dodgers personally, too.

Patriotic Extortion

By Marty Kaplan
Published on February 9, 2009

My Work Is Not to Blame for Jew-Haters

By Bernard Goldberg
Published on August 4, 2005

Usually I only respond to fair and thoughtful criticism, but I'll make an exception in this case, because people I respect tell me that Rob Eshman, the editor-in-chief of this publication, is both a smart and decent guy.

Recently, he wrote a column on July 29 about my new book -- "100 People Who Are Screwing Up America (and Al Franken is '37)," and this is how the column began: "Jewish Americans are only 2 percent of the nation's population, but they are 25 percent of its problem."

Of course, he doesn't believe that. The point was that I supposedly believe that. Why? It seems that Eshman actually counted up all the Jewish people on the list, came up with 25, and, well, you do the math.

Good thing my name is Goldberg and not something WASPy or the column might have begun, "This is a book written by a Jew-hating bigot."

Curb Your Verbosity

By Gaby Wenig
Published on December 23, 2004

Wolpe's goal with this book and with his columns is to achieve the most coveted accolade of all newspaper columnists -- to have his column posted on someone's refrigerator.

Unfunny Business

By J. D. Smith
Published on September 20, 2001

I sat down to write my regular column today. I had some pithy observations about a wedding I attended over the summer. It had all the makings of a witty little number. And then the World Trade Center blew up and the world is a vastly different place since when I wrote my last column.

Singles

Published on June 11, 1998

I must admit, I have a soft spot for the man I'll call "Pizza Guy."

He writes me almost weekly to report his trials and tribulations in the helter-skelter world of food distribution and to comment on my columns. Sure, his first letter was a little frightening, what with psychotic penmanship and "screen play ideas" doodled in the margins. Still, he takes the time to write, and I can't help but be flattered by his missives.

Checking My Mailbox

By Teresa Strasser
Published on July 17, 1997

You read me! You really read me!
When I perused the stack of letters in response to my recent column on the difficulty of finding friends in a new city, I not only felt less like a huge loser, but I was reminded what it means to have a community. When I question why being Jewish is important, I will look at those letters and know.